How To Reconnect With Old Friends On Facebook

Facebook is one of the fastest growing web sites on the internet and with good reason! It is a tool for finding friends from all over the world and reconnecting with lost friendships that you had in school, college or in the workplace. Building friends is easy on Facebook, but can be somewhat daunting if you are new to the application. Here are five tips to get you started on locating all of those lost connections and back into becoming popular.

Say It Like It Is.If you are trying to re-connect, use your real name. No one is going to know that you are “The Fabulous Flying Monchichi”, even if that was your nickname one summer back in 1985. Use your real name, and ladies, don’t forget your maiden name! You can put this in the middle name space under SETTINGS or you can put your full maiden name as an alternate name to be searched. Incidentally, if no one knew you by your real name, but called you the Fabulous, Flying Monchichi, put that in the alternate name category, too.

Fill Out All The Information.
Let people know where you graduated from High School or College and the years. I know you might be worried about the occasional stalker, but it is unlikely to happen with someone other than those that already know this information, anyway (totally kidding!). You are going to want to use this information as a way of searching for your friends, too. Also, don’t forget to add a picture, too! People want to know what you look like, twenty years after the fact.

Now You’ve Built It, People Will Come.Facebook is a social networking site. This means, once you’ve put this information out there, someone you know is going to stumble upon your name and face and say, “Wow! I haven’t talked to them in years!” and they are going to invite you to be a friend. Some may send you a message at first, but most likely, they’ll just ask to be your friend. Click yes, even if you didn’t like them or talk to them much back in the day. They’ve probably changed quite a bit in all of those years. Even if they haven’t, it is assured that they aren’t sitting next to those stuck-up kids at the lunch table everyday. Be friendly and they will do so in return.

The Plot Thickens.Now that you’ve picked up a couple of old friends, you will move into deeper layers of Facebook. The friends on your list will branch out and automatically tell others they are friends with you. Your circles will intertwine with other circles and so on (unless you’ve checked the box that says you want to remain private on Facebook – but then what the hell are you doing on there anyway?)…You’ll gain more friends. Go to their profile page and say hello. Be social. Comment on your own page and tell people what you are up to. It doesn’t even have to be an exact course of your day – state a musing or thought that you may have. People will comment.

Join Groups.There is a fun little feature on Facebook that let’s like minded people get together. It could be a group based on your high school or hometown. It could be an ideological or religious group. Join these. It will help you find people to connect with. At first, I thought, “Why would I want to join a group like Fans of the Hot Dog Shoppe (a restaurant near my old hometown)? But, as time went on, I found old friends from different school districts on there and reconnected with them, as well. You can find the groups section on your Facebook page in a white search box in the upper right corner. Type in something you like and hit the magnifying glass. You’ll be surprised with what you come up with.

I hope this gives you a starting point to finding old friends and loved ones on Facebook. While it isn’t difficult to do, it sometimes seems like a bigger task with so many people out there. Hopefully, you can add some other tips in helping people out.